Illustration of bird and cage
thaumatrope. Public Domain.
Even if we
do not remember, or ever knew, what they are called, we all remember
thaumatropes from our childhood as the classic illustration of the bird in a
cage thaumatrope will remind us. Another popular one from history is made with
a vase on one side and a bunch of flowers on the other. As you spin it the
flowers appear to be in the vase, and the bird in the cage. Now it seems
possible that the thaumatrope was invented a very long time ago.
Bone disc from Mas d'Azil, France.
Photo paleomanias.co, Public Domain.
In their 2012
paper from Antiquity, Azema and Rivere propose that engraved bone discs found
in Paleolithic excavations might function as thaumatropes. In 2997 Florent
Rivere was studying paleolithic bone discs cut from the shoulder blades of
large animals (bison or deer). These had almost universally been classified as
buttons or pendants by their discoverers. (Another suggestion was spindle
whorls, but small size suggests that they would be ineffective in that role).
Noting that some were decorated on both sides with animals shown in different
positions he and Azema hypothesized that they could be strung on a cord of
sinew or plant fiber and rotated as a thaumatrope.
Bone disc from Mas d'Azil, France.
Photo paleomanias.co, Public Domain.
"One of the most convincing
cases is that of a bone disc some 3.1cm in diameter found in 1868 by M. Hardy
in the Laugerie-Basse rockshelter in the Dordogne and published in 1872. One
can see a herbivore, a doe or more likely a chamois from the shape of the ear
and horn, the shape of the tail and small lines along the head. The animal is
shown in two different positions, standing on one side of the disc and lying on
the other. . .
. . We then had the idea that
rapidly pivoting the object at 180 degrees (back and forth) would induce an
optical effect in terms of retinal persistence, the capacity of the eye to
retain an image already seen superimposed on the images being seen." (p. 321) In other words, by rapidly
rotating the object about a horizontal pivot both sides would be seen in rapid
succession, and the images would fuse because of retinal persistence.
Bone disc from Laugerie-Bas,
France. Public Domain.
"Other Magdalenian bone discs,
whole or fragmented, seem to offer similar examples of animation. A mammoth
from Raymonden (Dordogne) has an eye that opens (circular profile) and closes
(almond shaped profile) while the mouth half opens. - A disc found at the site
of La Tuiliere at Saint-Leon-sur-Vezere (Dordogne) shows the movement of an
equid, from right to left, in three successive images. At Mas d'Azil (Ariege),
a bone disc shows a sort of 'morphone', recording the passage of a young calf
to adulthood."
(p. 323)
Does any of
this prove anything, well no, in fact I find myself a little skeptical of most
of these conclusions. Based upon the listed subject matter I am not convinced
that most of these would be effective illusions (on the order of the bird in
the cage or the flowers in the vase). The mammoth winking it's eye does sound
like an effective illusion however. But, if true, all this suggests a wonderful
insight, that our Paleolithic forebears had invented this 19th century toy
many, tens of thousands of years ago. An exciting possibility indeed. We know
they were smart enough.
NOTE:
Images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for
public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public
domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner
will contact me with them. For further information on this you should read the
original report listed below.
REFERENCES:
Azema,
Marc, and Florent Rivere,
2012 Animation in Palaeolithic Art: A Pre-Echo of
Cinema, Antiquity Publications Ltd.,
Antiquity 86 (2012):316-324, http://antiquity.ac.uk/ant/086/ant0860316.htm
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